MIS Team Participates in International Case Competition

Management Information Systems seniors Kristin Bonds, Victoria Cano-Calhoun, and Lance Polvado represented the McCombs Business School at the International Case Competition held at the University of Minnesota in April. The team worked on a case for the Minnesota Wild hockey team and their struggle to fill seats at their games. How could the team use social media to improve ticket sales and advertising revenue? The team's solution was to reinvent the marketing campaign, which they named "Unleash the Wild".

The team ran regression analysis of several variables and their effect on ticket sales and Facebook posts. They found that photos and videos were the most statistically significant. Because of this, they paired their new marketing campaign with the "Puck Club", the ultimate in fan interaction. If part of the "Puck Club", any fan activity related to the Minnesota Wild would earn them credit; for example, checking into the arena, mentioning the team or posting and tagging a picture of the team on Facebook or Twitter would earn a fan credits.

Another part of the campaign was creating a new tab, called "Unleashed", for the Minnesota Wild's mobile app. This new tab would serve two functions: provide information on all things hockey related, and facilitate an All Things Wild blog that would aggregate all social media mentions of the team.

Ultimately, the goal of the teams marketing plan was to blur the lines between reality and the digital world in the eyes of the Minnesota Wild audience, just as social media is beginning to blur the lines in everyday life.

The case competition gave the students an opportunity to directly apply their education to a client-driven issue. Team member Lance Polvado certainly believes it was an invaluable experience. “The coMIS case competition allowed me to help solve a real-life, current business problem while collaborating in an intense team environment,” Polvado said. “Case competitions and business cases allow students to collectively apply all they have learned through the McCombs comprehensive curriculum. I would encourage strong-willed business majors who want to solve complex problems to take advantage of any case competition opportunities."

For more information on this year's case competition, visit the MISRC website.